Why the Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen?
Simply said, the Dell XPS 13 9310 Touochscreen is our go-to pick for portable Windows laptops for everyday usage. The practically bezel-less display is gorgeous, the chassis design is ultra-thin, and the battery life is substantial. Although it may not be a professional-grade laptop with superpowers, the performance and feature set are quick and comprehensive enough to make it possible to be productive at home or on the go. This piece is an easy winner in this field due to the way that style and content are combined.
One of the first ultraportable laptops to feature Intel’s most recent 11th Generation “Tiger Lake” CPUs, the Dell XPS 13 offers quick, effective computing performance and long battery life. This 13.4-inch display-equipped, 2.8-pound laptop also boasts a stunning body and other features that make it our Editors’ Choice for premium Windows ultraportable. Starting at $999.99 and going up to $1,999 as tested, the price is a touch steep, but for adamant fans of cutting-edge performance and style, it’s worth it.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
Who should buy it?
Consider the XPS 13 seriously if you like the design and aesthetic of the MacBook Air from Apple but would rather use Windows. One of the best-built ultraportable available, Dell’s model has a premium feel and is speedy and incredibly portable. This is our recommendation if you’re searching for a portable laptop for regular home and business chores that has a fair starting price (with room to go up) and a design that you’ll like every time you hold it in your hands.
The XPS 13 new design
It’s a good thing you waited if you were tempted to purchase an XPS 13 earlier this year after its substantial overhaul (model 9300). Now that the newest Intel silicon is out, you can get everything we like about the new laptop with it.
The only significant difference between the 9300 and the current model 9310 is the CPU boost, which is significant if you intend to retain your computer for at least five years. Dell does produce numerous new XPS 13 models every year, often more than once. However, the 9310 is a safe purchase for those who don’t want their pricey investment to be eclipsed by something significantly better in a few months thanks to a brand-new processor and a physical makeover that’s only been around for a few months.
Although not very lightweight, the XPS 13 is delightfully slim and feels satisfyingly robust. The touch-screen version we’re looking at here has dimensions of 0.58 by 11.6 by 7.8 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.8 pounds. Versions without a touch screen weigh 2.64 pounds less than touch screen versions because they don’t have the Gorilla Glass 6 display layer. Both of those weights are competitive with the Apple MacBook Pro 13, the Dell’s main opponent, which weighs 3.1 pounds. The XPS 13 is still noticeably heavier than the lightest products available, including the 1.96-pound Swift 7 flagship from Acer.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
High-end components and a stylish appearance may be accommodated by the XPS 13’s added weight. As soon as you remove the system from its elegant white box and run your fingertips along the aluminium lid and sides, the system’s dense construction becomes apparent. According to Dell, the edges are double-anodized to guard against scratch damage caused by frequent plugging and unplugging of devices. There is considerably more to admire when the lid is opened. The two colour choices are Frost White with an Alpine White composite-fiber palm rest or Platinum Silver with a black carbon-fiber palm rest. The latter approach is employed by our review section, and it is stunning. A UV and stain-resistant coating is used on the stylish palm rest to stop it from yellowing and discolouring.
If you enjoy the XPS 13’s design, you might be interested to know that Dell has carried it over to the larger XPS 15 and XPS 17 laptops as well. Similar to how Apple styles the two sizes of the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air, this is a cohesive approach. There is an XPS for everyone, whether you need a large-screen laptop with considerable computing power or an ultraportable for regular travel. The XPS 13 even comes in a 2-in-1 configuration with a 360-degree hinge that enables you to switch between a tablet and a laptop.
A Display That Is Outstanding Even Without 4K
The three display options for the XPS 13 all have an uncommon 16:10 aspect ratio rather than the more common 16:9. When browsing through webpages or updating lengthy papers, the former creates more vertical space that is useful.
Featuring a touch panel with 1,920 by 1,200 pixels, our review unit. The resolution is slightly above full HD (1,920 by 1,080 pixels) because to the aspect ratio, but far lower than the Retina Display of the MacBook Pro or the PixelSense display of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3. However, the XPS 13 may be equipped with a 3,840 by 2,400 pixel panel, which surpasses not just the resolutions of those two laptops but also those of typical widescreen 4K displays (3,840 by 2,160 pixels).
After using a 4K screen, it’s difficult to go back to a full HD screen with its sporadic pixel visibility and slightly blurry writing. Perhaps for this reason, neither Apple nor Microsoft sell full HD models of the MacBook Pro or Surface Laptop 3. However, I don’t mind the XPS 13’s screen resolution in reality. Images seem unusually vibrant, which I ascribe in part to the Dell’s support for 100% sRGB and 90% DCI-P3 gamuts as well as partly to the higher aspect ratio, which results in slightly more pixels than a 1080p panel. I also value the XPS 13’s amazing maximum brightness rating of 500 nits, which, if you turn up the brightness setting, allows you to view it comfortably outside (albeit not in direct sunlight).
Therefore, in this instance, I do not suggest the 4K screen over the full HD one. Given that the 4K version does increase the cost, there is an additional benefit for folks who are watching their budgets. On the other hand, I advise avoiding Dell’s entry-level screen, which is identical to the one on our review model but does not enable touch. That’s unfortunate because most XPS 13 rivals—with the notable exception of the MacBook Pro—offer touch capability as standard.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
Miniaturization achievements
A 720p webcam with IR facial recognition sensors is placed above the centre of the display, which is an incredible feat of miniaturization. It provides ordinary video quality for a laptop camera, meaning that interior images are a little bit noisy and blurry when compared to the quality from the cameras of even a midrange phone. Although Dell claims that by installing a new four-piece lens and temporal noise reduction, the camera quality has been improved, you should still definitely use your phone if you’re going to be using Skype in your living room at night. The XPS 13’s screen takes up 91.5 percent of the chassis’ surface area, therefore the camera’s main innovation is its tiny size. As a result, the bezels around the screen are minimal.
Less space for ports is one effect of a tiny laptop. Only two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 capability, a headphone jack, and a microSD card reader are available on the XPS 13 models. This implies that in order to connect an external display or USB Type-A accessories, you will require an adaptor or dongle. In the packaging, Dell thoughtfully includes a USB adapter. The work-from-home folks, who will probably use the XPS 13 with an external display, may find this to be a disadvantage. Even among its rivals, the XPS 13’s port selection is sparse, despite the fact that it is simply following the trend toward fewer and fewer ports. Up to four USB-C ports, all of which support Thunderbolt 3, are available on the MacBook Pro.
The ultraportable has the most recent Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless protocols, which are suitable for reliable internet connections and wireless keyboards and mice. Although I find the built-in keyboard and touchpad to be comfortable for quick typing and tapping sessions, many users will happily continue to use them. The spacious keycaps and sizable pad surface area are nice upgrades from the congested counterparts on certain rivals, like the Asus ZenBook 13. For password-free logins to your Windows 10 account, the power button in the upper right corner of the keyboard doubles as a fingerprint scanner.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
The dual speakers in the XPS 13 produce superb audio quality. They can emit up to 4 watts when combined, and because they are well-balanced, the laptop has far richer and more dimensional sound than you might anticipate from such a little container. Despite the fact that a large portion of the audio comes from a grille on the laptop’s bottom, voice tracks and other treble notes in a few movie trailers I viewed never felt muffled.
Dell provides a one-year hardware warranty for the XPS 13 and optional extensions of up to four years for a fee.
Testing the XPS 13: Farewell, Ice, and Welcome, Tiger
The latest Tiger Lake CPUs from Intel replace the 10th Generation “Ice Lake” processors in the new XPS 13. Although there isn’t much of a difference between the two, we did notice some slight performance gains when compared to the 9300 model on a couple of our benchmark tests. The Core i7-1165G7, a quad-core CPU with Hyper-Threading that operates at a base frequency of 2.8GHz instead of the corresponding 10th Generation Core i7’s 1.3GHz, is the processor in our test unit. Despite the same total number of cores and threads, the higher clock speed can enhance performance for some activities.
Despite always relying on integrated graphics rather than a discrete GPU, the XPS 13 now uses Intel’s newest Iris Xe technology, which replaces the Iris Plus graphics of the previous model. Additionally, the 512GB solid-state drive and 16GB of memory in our evaluation device should be adequate for most people. In contrast, the entry-level option has a Core i3, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Comparing those parts to the MacBook Pro’s entry-level configuration, which contains a Core i5, they are quite sparse. However, the base XPS 13 costs $300 more than the entry-level MacBook Pro.
Our XPS 13 tester’s specifications are included below, along with those of a few other recently reviewed laptops that are similar, such as the Apple MacBook Pro, the Asus ZenBook 13, the Razer Blade Stealth 13, and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
Tests of the CPU, media, and storage
The Windows-only PCMark performance suite created by the benchmark experts at UL provides our first look at overall performance (formerly Futuremark). We mimic many real-world content production and productivity scenarios in the PCMark 10 test. We utilise it to evaluate the overall performance of the system when performing office-related operations including word processing, spreadsheet manipulation, web surfing, and videoconferencing. The performance of the XPS 13 is excellent, although it is practically identical to that of the ZenBook 13.
In the meantime, PCMark 8 contains a storage subtest that we utilise to evaluate the system’s boot drive’s speed. It generates a proprietary numerical score, similar to PCMark 10. (higher numbers are better). In this test, most modern laptops with SSDs perform about equally well, which is the case in this instance.
Next is Maxon’s CPU-intensive Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to utilise all cores and threads of the processor. In order to render a complicated image, Cinebench puts more strain on the CPU than the GPU. As a result, a PC’s appropriateness for processor-intensive workloads is indicated by a proprietary score. The hierarchy on this test is evident: the Tiger Lake XPS 13 and ZenBook 13 are placed above the Ice Lake-based Surface Laptop 3 and Blade Stealth 13. The Core i5 processor in the MacBook Pro is a high achiever.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
Our Handbrake video-editing test, another demanding, threaded exercise that is heavily CPU-dependent and scales well with cores and threads, is frequently correctly predicted by Cinebench. We time test systems as they convert a typical 12-minute clip of 4K video to a 1080p MP4 file in it. Lower scores on the timed test are preferable. Surprisingly, the XPS 13 and the MacBook Pro are tied for first rank, with the Asus following closely behind.
Additionally, we perform a unique Adobe Photoshop image-editing benchmark. We apply a series of 10 complicated filters and effects to a common JPEG test image using the most recent releases of Photoshop CC for macOS and the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop for Windows. Each procedure is timed, and the total execution time is then added. Lower times are preferable here, just like with Handbrake. The Photoshop test puts a lot of strain on the CPU, RAM, and storage subsystem. The XPS 13 performs admirably, outperforming the Apple but falling short of the ZenBook 13 in terms of speed.
Testing of Graphics and Battery Life
The transition from the previous Iris Plus to Iris Xe graphics is one of the key advantages of Intel’s Tiger Lake architecture. This enhancement actually doesn’t make much of a difference in our graphics testing, which renders sequences of extremely realistic, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasise particles and lighting using the Windows-only 3DMark and Superposition game simulations.
We use two different 3DMark subtests that are appropriate for various system types: Sky Diver and Fire Strike. They are both DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is better suited to laptops and midrange PCs, whilst Fire Strike is more taxing and designed to show off high-end PCs.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
The Superposition test, like 3DMark, renders and pans over a complex 3D scene while evaluating the system’s performance. It is produced in this instance using the company’s name-brand Unigine engine, providing a different 3D workload scenario than 3DMark to provide a second perspective on the machine’s graphical prowess.
The Iris Xe computers outperform their Iris Plus counterparts by a small margin, but the difference isn’t particularly noticeable. Additionally, it provides considerably less of a benefit than an entry-level gaming GPU like the Nvidia chip found in the Blade Stealth 13 does. The XPS 13 will be able to handle almost anything you throw at it in terms of graphics output, with the exception of demanding 3D games, which need a dedicated GPU to function properly.
The XPS 13’s 52-watt-hour battery lasted 15 hours in our video playback test, so it should have no trouble getting through a complete workday without a power outlet.
Even if it’s “only” on par with what the competition delivers and really a little less than the 17.5 hours we saw with the prior model 9300, that’s still a very nice performance.
XPS 13: The Best High-End Ultraportable Device of Today
One of the XPS 13’s main advantages is its cutting-edge computing hardware, which is housed in a gorgeously designed and very well-constructed chassis. Even among the crowded industry of high-end ultraportable laptops, these are exceptional accomplishments. Apart from operating system differences, the XPS 13 is arguably a better option than the MacBook Pro right now for the majority of users because Apple’s laptop is equipped with outdated chips that must soon be replaced.
Dell XPS 13 9310 Touchscreen
If you’re looking for a strong gaming experience on the side, the XPS 13 is one of the few reasons you shouldn’t buy it. The Nvidia GeForce GTX-equipped Blade Stealth 13 is probably a wiser choice, at the minor cost of a shorter battery life, a less-sleek chassis, and an older-generation CPU. Intel’s Iris Xe silicon is decent if you’re willing to dial things back (this is not the integrated graphics of a year or two ago). Other than that, the XPS 13 is the best of the best and continues to hold our Editors’ Choice award as the year 2020’s top high-end ultraportable laptop.
CONCLUSION
The most recent Dell XPS 13 confirms its position as the top high-end ultraportable today thanks to a trim-to-the-maximum chassis, a gorgeous screen, and a cutting-edge Intel “Tiger Lake” processor.
Read our review of the HP Elite Dragonfly here.
Read our review of the Victus 16 Gaming Laptop here.
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